1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a medium access control method in a single channel wireless network environment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a medium access control method of a terminal capable of communicating in a full-duplex communication scheme in a single channel wireless network environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional wireless network environments, although all nodes are capable of communicating bi-directionally, only half-duplex communication, these nodes can transmit and receive data using only a half-duplex communication scheme, through which data can be transmitted or received only in one direction at a time. That is, a node may receive data transmitted from another node only after finishing transmission. If a node starts transmission and reception simultaneously, both transmission and reception fails due to collision. However, full-duplex communication that can simultaneously transmit and receive data through two channels is made possible. For example, since a cellular phone uses a full-duplex communication scheme, a user may speak while listening to a counterpart, unlike a transceiver. However, existing full-duplex communication is allowed only when a plurality of channels is provided for transmission and reception of data.
However, as signal processing techniques and antenna techniques have advanced recently, a self-interference cancellation technique which allows simultaneous transmission and reception of data using two or more antennas has been developed recently. The full-duplex communication scheme using a plurality of antennas is a new technique using only one channel, unlike existing methods of using a plurality of channels, and it is difficult to combine an existing medium access control (MAC) method with the full-duplex communication scheme. Therefore, there is a need for a medium access control method appropriate for a single channel wireless network environment using a full-duplex communication scheme.